


A Knight's Tale

by anime_babble



Category: Code Geass
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-24
Updated: 2012-05-24
Packaged: 2017-11-05 22:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anime_babble/pseuds/anime_babble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of a Princess and her Knight. It is not a fairy tale.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Knight's Tale

I)  
Gilbert doesn’t know why he fights for her, because if she wins in the end, she will be crowned Empress.

He would rather she only be Cornelia, selfish as that is. Because at least then she would remain his.

II)  
She first noticed him at fourteen, the only one that did not try to win the favor of a Princess of Britannia, or tell her she was beautiful. He was shy, but brilliant, easily the top of their class. She told herself then, that was why she wanted him near her, because he would be of use.

He’s changed since then. So has she.

(He still has the same smile, soft and shy and secretive, as if he knew something she didn’t.)

III)  
He has never thought her beautiful.

How could _beautiful_ cover the way she blazed in battle, sweeping across the plains in glory? How could it describe the way her eyes glowed in triumph, startling everyone with their cold and clear magnificence?

Other women are called beautiful. Cornelia burns too brightly to be ordinary.

IV)  
They have only ever brought up the subject of Prince Consort, (and Imperial Husbands) once, because if she is to be Empress, she will need to make such alliances of the flesh. He did it, because he supposed he had a masochistic streak; he wanted her to hurt him badly enough so that he would stop dreaming of her. They are friends by this time; he can pass off the subject as a teasing joke. How many would she need to have, to keep the court in line? Around seven?

It is the one and only time she has ever looked at him with such vulnerability in her eyes. It only lasted a split second, of course, because it was Cornelia, but it was enough to be his undoing.

He knew then he would never love another.

V)  
She isn’t terribly surprised that he kisses her, one evening when they are alone together, months after he has sworn allegiance to her as her Knight. It is not a gentle kiss. It’s hard and desperate and needy, and she is not surprised, because this is why she has chosen him. Because he loved her enough to fight and die for her, and would never betray her.

She is only surprised that she kisses him back, and she is not gentle either.

He has her top completely off before she manages to regain her trademark control, and still her breath is ragged as she rasps, “I can’t get pregnant.” They both know that the Emperor will never pass his crown along to an heir with a bastard child. 

It might taint the line.

He swears, and his breath is uneven too, as he stumbles out of the room to let her get dressed.

VI)  
He can’t look her in the eye for a few days after that. She seems to have been unaffected by the whole encounter; probably, he thinks, if she ever thought about that night, it was with cold clinical detachment, ‘ah, so this is what kissing is like.’

He hopes she will not send him away. It is hell now, but if he could not see her at all, it would be worse.

VII)  
She comes into his room one evening, and does not turn on the light. Instead, she undresses swiftly; he is stunned, but not stunned enough to not notice the birth control patch she is wearing.

“Take off your clothes,” Cornelia whispers. It is difficult to tell if it is a plea or command.

He does as she asks of him anyway.

VIII)  
Euphemia knows the moment that Gilbert becomes Cornelia’s lover. She smiles a little more often, when she thinks no one is watching, as if she is happy.

She also becomes more ruthless in battle, as if in atonement.

IX)  
She knows some might call it love, the Princess and her Knight, but love implies roses and sweet whispers and white picket fences; a future. It doesn’t have the stench of battle; the sweat, and the frantic need to remind themselves that they are alive.

But lust doesn’t cover the way she trusts him not to knife her in her sleep, and the cold fury she feels and acts upon when other women look at him. Before him, she would have never let anything distract her from her goal, not even for a few stolen moments.

She doesn’t try to name it; it might disappear, lost on the wind, if she did.

X)  
He fights for her because he loves her. Even knowing he will lose her, that is enough.

XI)  
If she were a better person, she thinks, she would end this, she would stop taking him into her bed. She would arrange for him to marry another; a nice girl, a sweet girl. One who could give him children of his own.

But she has no delusions about her own morality. And she wants him here, beside her, for always.

It might not be love, but it was the closest she could ever come.

XII)  
He knows that she will only ever have one Knight.

[End.]

**Author's Note:**

> THE PLOT BUNNIES ARE EATING ME. SEND HELP...*gurgle gurgle gurgle*
> 
> 1) I’m split on whether I actually think Cornelia and Gilbert are lovers, though I am sure that there’s a high level of trust and caring in the relationship, even if Cornelia won’t admit it to herself. But if they are, this is totally how they would be together.  
> 2) If an Emperor of an empire needs many wives for political reasons, I see no reason why, in a system where a girl can inherit the throne, an Empress would be different. So if there is a female harem, there is a male one. Fair’s fair.
> 
> *that was the sound effect of me being eaten. In case you couldn’t tell. XD XD XD


End file.
